... especially the Convention's abolition of slavery in 1794: he stated that he intended to make Grenada a "Black Republic just like Haiti." Fédon and his troops controlled all of Grenada except the parish of St George's, the seat of government, between March 1795 and June 1796. During those insurgent months 14,000 of Grenada's 28,000 slaves joined the revolutionary forces in order to write their own emancipation and transform themselves into "citizens"; some 7,000 of these self-liberated slaves would perish in the name of freedom. Fédon's forces were defeated by the British in late 1796, but Fédon himself was never caught and his fate is unknown.

Grenada is the next "History of" country, as we resume our alphabetical progression the the "History of" Wikipedia pages for the 206 countries of the world.

IN THE COMMENTS: bagoh20 said: "Is that outfit ever appropriate in Grenada near the equator?" And Anniella said: "That's an amazing painting, but there's a very good reason he's so bundled up," linking here.

In 1819, Charles Willson Peale headed down to Washington to paint portraits of President James Monroe, Henry Clay, and other dignitaries for exhibition in the famed Peale museum located in Independence Hall. But there was another sitter the painter wanted to snare on his trip.

"I heard of a Negro who is living in Georgetown said to be 140 years of age," Peale wrote in his diary. "He is comfortable in his Situation having Bank stock and lives in his own house."

The man was Yarrow Mamout, a free African, a Muslim who indeed held bank stock, purchased with great effort to secure a comfortable old age - after a life of abduction and bondage...

So... it's not Julien Fédon. I had my doubts, and I won't take advantage of the lame excuse — though I thought of it when I decided to use that picture — that I never actually say that's Julien Fédon. I'm glad to hear of Yarrow Mamout and I love the painting.

"Yarrow owns a house & lotts and is known by most of the Inhabitants of Georgetown & particularly by the Boys who are often teazing him which he takes in good humour," Peale confided in his diary. "The acquaintance of him often banter him about eating Bacon and drinking Whiskey - but Yarrow says it is no good to eat Hog - & drink whiskey is very bad."

"Sometimes I feel like a motherless child..." continuing my Richie Havens allusion. Is it me or are the comments on Althouse always veering off to immediate snarkiness? It seems no one can go four comments in/down without snark rearing it's head. It's getting very typical and ordinary. Is there any other default setting other than snark?

Interesting...I'd long been aware of Grenada, mostly of the US Military intervention in the 1980s, but never troubled myself to learn more.

The explanation given at Wiki makes some sense, though it mentions that the request for aid went outside of usual diplomatic channels. And that US leadership at the time was very concerned about Soviet influence in the region.

I believe that Fedon is wearing a "Phrygian cap" or a "Liberty cap", which was worn in ancient times by former slaves to show that they had won their freedom. By the time of the French Revolution, they were important symbols of Liberty, and Liberty caps were also featured on many of our early U.S. coins.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap